Ribbon-feeding mechanism.



N. WHITE.

meson FEEDING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 6.1914.

Patented Au". 29', 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

anue/wtoz attom lxhtmaooeo N. WHITE. mason FEEDING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 6, I914.

Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

3 SHEE TS SHEET 2.

NW. FM

N. WHITE.

RIBBON FEEDING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 6, I914.

1 1 96,622 Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

zaa

WITNESSES: IIVI/ENTOR A TTOHNEY To all wh m itmay concern:

' zen ioflthe'United States, residing at Port-- r1 sra'rns PATENT OFFICE.

NELSON WHITE/01; PORTLAND, oanoont, nssrenoa, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, 'ro' INTERNATIONAL MoNEY MACHINE COMPANY, OF 'rnnen HAUTE,INDIANA, A

qonieonarron or mnxnna- I RIBBON-FEEDING MECHANISM.

Be it'known that I, NELSON WHITE, a citilan d, infthecounty of Mnltnomah and. State fOregomhare invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ribbon-l eeding' Mechanism; ofwhich the following .is' a specification; y

The resentfiinvention' comprises novel mechanism for controlling the feeding of an inking ribbon "used for printing purposes in v adding typewriting and other machines,

v has been iwvound"entirely upon one spool and.

1nd for'rerer'shrg the movement'of said ril bonantomaticallyf,

fjThe" ventionresides particularly in the peculiar instrnmentalities whereby reverse movement oftheyribbon is efl'ecte'dafter it tween-airmai another, the reversing action being;rconfrolled by tension on the ribbon caused by the termination of its unwinding movement.

Forja f ll comprehension of the details of the invention' the merit thereof, reference istobeli ad to the following descript'ifon andtof thefiaccompanyiiig drawings, in

i reversal of the mo 'enient of the ribbon has been effected. Fig.4 is a front elevation of the same. I 1gs.j5' and 6 show the mechanisijn' in front elevation and top plan views,

respectii' ely;the parts being illustrated as when about torex'erse; and Figs. 7, 8 and 9 arepla znenrahd plan views respectively are modificiitiiin.

Throiigho ut'the following detail description andionthii several figures of the drawings, siniilar parts are referred to by like iffe'rence izh-aracters.

his:sh ownfclearly in the' drawirigs, the printinggribbon 1971s connected with spools 199199 supported on stationary parts suchas healing-20o"- and 201 respectii'ely,

the latteribei ng' fastened to the inside of the frame'inembersfi and 9' at their "ripper rear end-s1? The spools 1'98 and 199 are of conyention'aFform, their ripper disks being toothedin opposite directions. The operaa "fragmentary plan, View Specification of Iietters Patent. Pate ted Aug, 29, 1.316, Application a 1914. Serial No; 836,7?1. r

tion of the ribbon mechanism 'in reyersing 1S entirely. automatic. Arms 202-and 203 are provided respectively for the spools 198 and 199, to carry the feeding pawls 202' and 203, respectively. The pawls aforesaid are adapted to engage the teeth of the spoolswith which they coiiperate, the arms 202 and 203 being pivoted to the axes of the adjacent jlower arm a stud 207 engageableby notches 208 and 208' of a pull rod 209. The pun" rod 209 is connected pivotally at its lower end with an arm 210 mounted on the selector barjoperating'shaft 46. A spring 211-co operates with the pull rod 209130 normally I maintain one or the other of the notches 208 and 208 engaged with the stud 207.- For' each spool there is provided'a pivotedretarding finger 212, yieldingly engaging the spool under the action of a tension spring 213. The brackets 200 and 201- are each edge 215 thereof. has a downwardly projecting pin 202* and the pawl 203' has a similar pin 203 It'may be stated that the drive link 201 is recipro-" cated by the parts 46 and 209 in'order toifnpart feeding movement to one ofthe spools 198 and 199 and with whichit may cooper ate at a predetermined time. As shown in edge 215 of the bracket 200 and whileIinformed with a cam 21% on the inn er curved The feeding pawl 202' such contact, said pawl is operativelyuen gaged with the-teeth of the spool 198; At the same time, as shown in. Fig.= 1,-the pin 203 of the feeding pawl 2.03 by' reason of:

the position of the link 204, is held in en-. gagement with the cam 214 01? the bracket 201. Since the cam 214 is formedon an are more remote from the axis ofthe adjacentv .shown in Fig. 1, the inking ribbon 197 is fed from the spool 199 to the spool 198 in.

the motion of the link 204 because the pin 202 isin contact with the edge 215 of the bracket 200 and the pawl 202 is engaged with the teeth of said spool 198. other hand, the feeding pawl 203 5, the movement of the link 204, is inoperative in relation to the teeth of the spool 199.

It will be apparent that, in order to re verse the movement of the ribbon 197, it is only necessary to reverse the operative relation of the pawls, as shown in Fig. 1, in respect to their adjacent spools. The ribbon 197, of course, will continue to feed on tothe spool 198 according to the illustration in Fig. 1 until the terminal of the ribbon attached to the spool 199 is exposed and causes the ribbon to be'placed under tension on the downward stroke of the pull rod 209, The tension on the ribbon momenduring tarily prevents movement of the bell crank.

206 and causes the stud 207 to slip from the notch 208, as shown in Fig. 2, into the notch 208, as shown in Fig. 4. It will now be apparent that in the further operations of the machine, the bell crank 206, through the action of the pull rod 209 will cause the drive link 204 to travel in a path somewhat to theleft of that in which it will travel, according to the showing of Fig. 1, and the new path of movement of the link 204 will maintain the feeding pawls 202' and 203 in the reverse positions shown in Fig. 3 and cause the pawl 203 to rotate the spool 199 and feed the ribbon in a direction opposite to that in which it is feeding in Fig. 1. Obviously, a reversal of the feeding movement of the ribbon 197, when the parts are adjust ed according to the illustration in Fig. 4, will be effected by substantially the same action as hereinbefore described, excepting that the next time the ribbon is under tension, the stud 207 will be transferred from the notch 208' to the'notch 208, duringpan upward movement of the pull rod 209.

It is contemplated that any conventional 5 means may be employed to establish a driving connection between the handle 38 and the shaft 46, said handle being utilized as the main actuator of an adding machine, according to the preferred embodiment of the invention. As shown in Fig. 8, a cam 40 is carried by the shaft 39 to which the handle 38 is attached and said cam 40 operates a lever by a link 44 to a short arm 45 on the shaft 46. With the described connections between the handle 38 and the shaft 46, upon each movement of the handle 38, a reciprocatory movement will be imparted to the pull rod 209, and such movement is always trans mitted to the l nk 204 except only when the 0 movement f said link is retarded because of tension placed on the inking ribbon 197 when the latter is completely unwound from either spool. The connection between the lever 206 and .member 209 is practically 5:; floating connection therefore operating On the substantially in the manner previously set forth. While the arrangement of parts shown in the drawings would be preferably employedwhen the invention is usedin connectionwith adding machines, it is apparcut that a somewhat different arrangement would be necessary in typewriting and other machines, notwithstanding which themain parts described would be employed by utilizing special connections with an actuating member of some sort. During the act of reversal of the ribbon when one spool is empty and the other is feeding or trying to feed, the reaction on the ribbon while under tension tends to cause the driving spool "to slip back and follow its feedingpawl thus preventing said pawl from tooth on the next stroke. The above difficulty is obviated by the means shown .in- Figs. 7 to 9 inclusive wherein the arm 202 is of angular form, one of its members having the feeding pawl 202" and the other having the link 204 While the plates 200" and 201 are formed. slightly'difl erent from the equivalent parts first described, they have cams cooperating with the studs 202* and 203' to render the respective pawls202" and 203" operative or inoperative. Pivoted to the plates 200- and 201 are auxiliary or looking pawls 216 and 217 respectively. These pawls have tails taking another connected thereto.

extended to form cams 216 and 217 adapted engageship is reversed, stud 218 riding on the cam 216 and stud 219 riding in{ thfilear, permitting pawl 217 to engage spool 119. The retarding fingers 212 are utilized as above. Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In combination, spools about which a ribbon is adapted to wind and unwind, feeding pawls associated with said spools to cause opposite feeding movements of the ribbon, a link .operatively connected with said pawls, means whereby one pawl is maintained in engagement with its associated spool while the other is in an inoperative position, means to reciprocate the link longitudinally to cause feed movement of the pawls, means to shift the link to cause a .reversal of the relative positions of said bon, a link operatively connected with said pawls, stationary parts coacting with said feeding pawls to hold one out of engagement with respect to the adjacent spool while the other acts to causefeeding movement of its adjacent spool, means to reciprocate said link to cause ribbon feeding action of the spools, and to shift the link longitudinally to reverse the relation of said pawls with respect to the stationary parts and thereby efl'eot reverse ribbon feed action of; said pawls in cooperating with the spools.

3. In combination, spools about which the ribbon is adapted to wind and unwind, supporting brackets for said spools provided with cams, arms pivotally connected with said supporting brackets, a link connecting said arms, feeding pawls carried by said arms and adapted to coact with the spools to cause feeding movements of'the ribbon in'opposite directions, means on each of said pawls cooperative with the cams aforesaid whereby one only of the feeding pawls normally coacts with the adjacent spool while the other is out of cooperation, with regard to its spool, locking pawls cotiperative with the spools and likewise one in engagement with its adjacent spool while the other is out of engagement with respect to its spool, means to shift the position of said link whereby the operative relation between the feeding pawls and the cams and spools is reversed, and studs on the link adapted to engage the locking pawls to reverse the relative positions of ,the same in relation to the spools simultaneously with the reversal of the feeding pawls. I

4. Inv combination, spools about which a ribbon is adapted to wind and unwind, feeding pawls cooperatin rotate them in opposite directions, stationary cams for the pawls, one of which cams normally coacts with one of the feeding pawls to maintain the latter inoperative in relation to its spool, means for actuating with said spools to said feeding pawls, and means controlled by abnormal tension on the ribbon to reverse the positions of said pawls in relation to their cams and thereby cause reverse feeding movement of the ribbon.

5. In combination, spools about which a.

ribbon is adapted to wind and unwind, feed-.

ing pawls associated with said spools to cause opposite feedingm'ovement'of t 'e ribbon, supports for said spools provided with cams, one of which normally coacts with an adjawnt pawl to hold the latter out of engagement with its spool and the other of which normally does not coact with the other-pawl, means for operating said pawls,

and means to reverse the relation of the pawls in respect to their cams and thereby cause 'a' reversal of direction of feeding movement of the ribbon.

6. In combination, spools about which th ribbon is adapted to wind and unwind,

-pivoted arms associated with the spools,

pawls carried by said arms to cobperatewith the spools, brackets adjacent to the spools and having cams 'to coact with the pawls, a

link connecting said arms so that one of the pawls cooperates with an adjacent cam normally and is thereby maintained inoperative in relation to its spool, a lever connected with the link, a pull rod connected with the lever, and means to shift the connection between the pull rod and the lever :to thereby reverse the positions of the pawls in relation to their cams.

7. In combination, spools about which a ribbon is adapted to wind and unwind, feeding pawls associated with said spools to cause opposite feeding movement of a ribbon thereby, a link operatively connecting said pawls, means coiiperative with the pawls whereby to hold either one in feeding coaction with respect to its adjacent spool I while the other pawl is inoperative for such action in relation to its adjacent spool, means to impart certain reciprocatory movement to said link whereby to cause feeding actuation of said pawls, and to shift said link in the direction of its reciprocatory movement to change its position for such movement and reverse the feeding relation of the pawls with their respective spools.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

NELSON W'HITE. Witnesses:

G. A. STOCK,

FRANK MENEFEE. 

